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steve(at)tomasara.com
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 Posted: Mon Jan 01, 2018 2:13 pm Post subject: Testing Battery Capacity... |
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Greetings,
I've built up the capacity tester documented by Bob N. in: http://www.aeroelectric.com/articles/battest.pdf and thought folks might want to see what it looks like in the flesh. I've attached a picture but let me know if it fails to show up. Since I only get the digest version of the postings, I won't get it (I never see any attachments). If anyone else who gets the digest want a copy, just email me direct with the request and I'll send the pic back in my reply.
The two resistors, the zener and the transistor are all on the little piece of prototyping circuit board zip-tied to the top of the relay. For me it was easier to come up with a 3 ohm 100W power resistor than the 55W 12V lamp shown in Bob's schematic.
I tested the 17AHr AGM battery (Werker, from Batteries Plus) which I pulled out of my Longeze this last summer (after two years of service) and, at ~18 degreesF, it ran for 2hrs 35 minutes. I've yet to test the battery I replaced it with. This is no where near long enough to match my max duration (which is no surprise since my max duration at economy cruise at altitude is almost 12 hrs...) but it good enough to provide enough options.
Steve Stearns
O235 Longeze ~1400 Hrs.
Boulder/Longmont CO
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nuckolls.bob(at)aeroelect
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| Posted: Thu Jan 04, 2018 3:38 pm Post subject: Testing Battery Capacity... |
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At 04:12 PM 1/1/2018, you wrote:
| Quote: | Greetings,
I've built up the capacity tester documented by Bob N. in: http://www.aeroelectric.com/articles/battest.pdf and thought folks might want to see what it looks like in the flesh. I've attached a picture but let me know if it fails to show up. Since I only get the digest version of the postings, I won't get it (I never see any attachments). If anyone else who gets the digest want a copy, just email me direct with the request and I'll send the pic back in my reply. |
Got it. Looks good!
| Quote: | | The two resistors, the zener and the transistor are all on the little piece of prototyping circuit board zip-tied to the top of the relay. For me it was easier to come up with a 3 ohm 100W power resistor than the 55W 12V lamp shown in Bob's schematic. |
Of course, that gives you an initial discharge
~4A at startup which tapers to ~3.66A at end of
test.
| Quote: | | I tested the 17AHr AGM battery (Werker, from Batteries Plus) which I pulled out of my Longeze this last summer (after two years of service) and, at ~18 degreesF, it ran for 2hrs 35 minutes. |
Assuming an average drain of 3.8A x 2.6 hours
yields 9.8 Ampere-Hours. Just for grins, let's
go look at the specs on new Odyssey products
[img]cid:.0[/img]
The PC535 (14.8 a.h. at 20 hour
rate) will deliver about 12 a.h. at
a 2.5 hour rate.
This suggests that your existing battery
delivers less snort than a new 15 a.h.
battery. Comparing to a PC625 (18 a.h.
at 20 hour rate), a 4A load should
be supported for about 4 hours with
a delivery of 15.6 a.h.
[img]cid:.1[/img]
This is on example of how the po' boy's
cap checker can be used to evaluate a
battery . . . your test article is down
to about 65% of new capacity. Time to toss
in the towel.
| Quote: | | Â I've yet to test the battery I replaced it with. |
Would like to see that data . . .
| Quote: | | Â This is no where near long enough to match my max duration (which is no surprise since my max duration at economy cruise at altitude is almost 12 hrs...) but it good enough to provide enough options. |
Have you considered installing Z13/8?
UNLIMITED endurance at 8A worth of system
loads without up-sizing the existing
battery.
Thanks for sharing this!
Bob . . .
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nuckolls.bob(at)aeroelect
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| Posted: Thu Jan 04, 2018 7:55 pm Post subject: Testing Battery Capacity... |
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| Quote: | | I tested the 17AHr AGM battery (Werker, from Batteries Plus) which I pulled out of my Longeze this last summer (after two years of service) and, at ~18 degreesF, it ran for 2hrs 35 minutes. |
Just noticed the temperature callout . . . this
was battery temperature at the beginning of
the test?
You might want to put it on a precision
charger/maintainer and retest at room
temp . . . you may well see a lot of
improvement.
Bob . . .
Bob . . .
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steve(at)tomasara.com
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| Posted: Fri Jan 05, 2018 5:07 am Post subject: Testing battery capacity... |
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Bob said:  You might want to put it on a precision  charger/maintainer and retest at room  temp . . . you may well see a lot of  improvement.
Well, in the longeze, my battery is in the nose and I fly at altitude where it is cold! So maybe this is a good test it realistic endurance. For battery life comparisons, a room temp standard sounds appropriate.
Thanks,
Steve.
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nuckolls.bob(at)aeroelect
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| Posted: Fri Jan 05, 2018 6:22 am Post subject: Testing battery capacity... |
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At 07:06 AM 1/5/2018, you wrote:
| Quote: | Bob said:
  You might want to put it on a precision
  charger/maintainer and retest at room
  temp . . . you may well see a lot of
  improvement.
Well, in the longeze, my battery is in the nose and I fly at altitude where it is cold! So maybe this is a good test it realistic endurance. For battery life comparisons, a room temp standard sounds appropriate. |
Sounds like your airplane is a really good candidate
for Z13/8!
Bob . . .
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steve(at)tomasara.com
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| Posted: Sat Jan 13, 2018 6:50 pm Post subject: Testing Battery Capacity... |
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I said: "I've yet to test the battery I replaced it with."Bob N. said: "Would like to see that data . . ."
I don't recall for sure but my best guess is the "new" (bought Dec '16) battery is a Duracell Ultra 18Ah. (whatever Batteries Plus was had as their generic 18AH AGM). I didn't removed it from the Longeze when I tested it today. It was 48 degreesF at the start of the test (and a few degrees colder at the end) and with my 3 Ohm load it ran for 3hr and 14 minutes.
Steve.
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nuckolls.bob(at)aeroelect
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| Posted: Sun Jan 14, 2018 8:30 am Post subject: Testing Battery Capacity... |
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At 08:44 PM 1/13/2018, you wrote:
| Quote: | I said: "I've yet to test the battery I replaced it with."
Bob N. said: "Would like to see that data . . ."
I don't recall for sure but my best guess is the "new" (bought Dec '16) battery
is a Duracell Ultra 18Ah. Â (whatever Batteries Plus was had as their generic
18AH AGM). I didn't removed it from the Longeze when I tested it today.
It was 48 degreesF at the start of the test (and a few degrees colder at
the end) and with my 3 Ohm load it ran for 3hr and 14 minutes. |
Interesting. Okay 11.5v average/3 ohms yields ~3.8A for 3.25
hours is 12.4 A.H. According to the Enersys data on a PC680,
the new battery supports about 4A for 3.2 hours
[img]cid:7.1.0.9.0.20180114102012.067626e8(at)aeroelectric.com.0[/img]
It would appear that your test article is pretty healthy. The only other
variable is load dump ability. Given the cap-check data, I'd bet
the load dump numbers are good too.
Bob . . .
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